The UA Psychologist
by sremiehzla
Summary: Katsuki has always had it in for Izuku for some reason. Then, he finally pushes the boy over the edge. Nobody knows how to deal with the situation, but maybe there's someone else who can shed light on the situation. Full disclosure: This fic only exists to bash Katsuki
1. It makes no sense

**Hello! This is a much shorter project than my big one "Deku: The Telekinetic Hero". It's something to refresh my writing brain because I'm bored of the other one. Plus this is a more fun story to write in some ways. It's also more dark, but hey...**

**Any excuse to shit on Bakugo, amirite?**

—

Everyone has a breaking point. Everyone knows that, yet somehow they usually just expect that people won't reach that breaking point. But they don't know everything. Nobody can really know everything about anyone else. Those dark spaces beneath the bright mask, the tears of the past plastered over with a new smile, the wrongs of long ago long forgotten. Long forgotten, but never healed.

Even if you forgive someone for doing wrong to you, can you really say that it doesn't affect you? Trust damaged, confidence dented, certainty gone... Someone can't just fix those on their own. The damage builds up, eats away at them, even _subconsciously_ pulls them away from sanity while they are none the wiser. People just trying to honestly live their lives can lose it all in one snap of anger. Letting out their frustrations is the last thing they want to do, but...

Everyone has a breaking point.

—

"Oi Deku, get outta the way!" Kacchan shouted as he shoved his way past in the hall.

"Kacch— Ah, whatever," Izuku sighed. '_Nothing ever changes._'

Izuku had made every effort to prove himself as Kacchan's equal, but the blonde seemed to be dead-set on constantly belittling him. Even after saving him from the League of Villains, he didn't warm to him. And then, after Izuku got his license and Kacchan failed to, things only escalated.

A true hero is someone who smiles no matter how bad a situation is. That's what Izuku believed, at least, so he just put on that smile and followed Kacchan to class.

"Hey Deku!" Uraraka greeted as she fell in line with his step.

"Hey Uraraka," the greenette smiled.

Kacchan looked back at them with narrowed eyes.

Uraraka had been one of Izuku's closest friends since he started attending U.A. She was always so positive and supportive, and she was just easy to get along with. Not to mention, she was also super cute. Being able to talk with her was easily the highlight of many of his days.

Most of the day was a blur to Izuku. It was the same spiel of "Math, History, Literature, Language" that they'd gotten since day 1 of school and it really wasn't too difficult. Besides, midway through the day he overheard something pretty strange.

_"Hey, did you hear about Bakugo's plan?" Sero asked._

_"Yeah," Kirishima nodded. "You talking about... y'know, Uraraka?"_

Apparently, according to their conversation, Kacchan was planning on pulling Uraraka aside during lunch and asking her out.

Kacchan asking Uraraka out... Like, on a date.

Izuku had to repeat it in his head a few times because it made no sense to him. True, it was easy to see that Kacchan respected Uraraka based on what happened at the sports festival, but... But...

Izuku shook his head. It was just a rumor, so he shouldn't put too much thought into it. Besides, why would he care? It wouldn't affect anything between him and Uraraka, and she might even be able to make Kacchan more tolerable. So why... Why was it getting into his head?

The school bell rang, announcing the end of their morning classes, and they all filed out for lunch. Izuku, Uraraka and Iida all sat together, as usual. Uraraka was her bubbly self, and Iida was as stiff as ever, but Izuku felt bad. He wasn't hungry for some reason, so he just absentmindedly picked at his lunch and avoided too much conversation.

"Hey Deku," Uraraka said, "what's wrong?"

"Wrong? What do you mean?" he asked.

"You're acting like something's bothering you," Iida said as Uraraka nodded in agreement.

"It's nothing... Just thinking about the internships," he sighed.

That was a lie. He had already found his most desired internship opportunity, and he was going to go meet the hero over the upcoming weekend.

"Oh yeah," Uraraka nodded. "I was thinking about interning with Ryukyu."

"Ooh, the Dragoon Hero?" Izuku asked.

"Yep! Hado is an intern with her and she offered to introduce me and Tsuyu!"

"That's—"

"Oi," Kacchan got their attention as he walked up to their table.

_Oh no..._

"Hello Bakugo," Iida greeted. "What brings you here?"

Kacchan glanced up and Izuku, then at Uraraka.

"Uraraka, you have a minute?" he asked.

"Me?" she widened her eyes and tilted her head slightly. "Yeah, I guess so."

"I'd like to talk to you... In private."

"Sure," she nodded her head.

As Uraraka followed Kacchan out of the cafeteria, she looked back at Izuku and Iida to give them a shrug.

"I wonder what that's about," Iida mused.

"Knowing Kacchan, it's probably..." Izuku sighed. '_C'mon Izuku, think of something else__ it could be! Anything?!_' "... Maybe a rematch for the sports festival?"

"That was quite a while ago though," Iida said.

"Yeah," Izuku admitted. '_Maybe he just wants to bad-mouth me._'

He watched the door for a couple of minutes until, finally, his two classmates returned. Kacchan walked in first, wearing the biggest grin Izuku had ever seen on him, and Uraraka followed with a blush covering her whole face. As soon as he saw that, his breath hitched and he broke out in a sweat.

"Welcome back Uraraka," Iida said as the girl sat down at their table. "What did Bakugo want?"

"U-Um, he... W-Well," she stuttered. "H-He asked me out on a d-date."

"A date?! So suddenly?" Iida asked, looking very surprised.

"I know, right?! It's outta nowhere!" Uraraka exclaimed. "It's so unexpected!"

"W-What'd you say?" Izuku asked.

"W-Well... I said yes," she said. "I mean, it's not like I particularly like him or anything, but it might be fun to try it out and see if something works. I-Imean it doesn't hurt anything to try... Right?"

"True," Iida nodded.

"Y-Yeah," Izuku nodded numbly.

What was that feeling in Izuku's chest? Uneasiness? No, it was more violent than that.

Anger?

Jealously?

The feeling faded into white noise, almost numb against the rattle in his head. He didn't know why, but it just didn't make sense. His brain couldn't make sense of it.

He didn't know if his friends continued their conversation without him or if he just participated numbly, but before he knew it he was pulled from his thoughts by the end-of-lunch bell. He went back to class and sat down quietly, only slightly inclining his head in a "hello" to Kacchan as he sat in front of him. Then, all class long, he numbly transferred his teacher's words to the page. Not a thought went through his head, but apparently he heard and understood whatever was happening in class because he had two pages full of notes by the end of the day.

On the way back to Heights Alliance, Deku's ears still registered barely any sound and his cognitive function was mute. He was aware of several taps on either of his shoulders, but couldn't bother to acknowledge them.

"_Oi, Deku_."

Oh. There it is, that's sound. That was the sound of somebody speaking, and their voice was hitting Izuku's ears.

"_Did you hear about me and Uraraka?_"

It was... Kacchan. His voice sounded familiar, but it felt different somehow. The texture of the noise against his eardrums was...

"_We're gonna go on a date next week_"

It was grating.

"Hey Kacchan, could you be quiet?"

Izuku asked that, not because he didn't want to hear what Kacchan had to say, but because the noise was just so...

"_Aw, what, you jealous or something? Mad because she likes me better than—?_"

**UNBEARABLE**

There was a loud bang and a sharp pain that felt like it engulfed his whole body. All he wanted was for the pain in his ears to end, but this pain was much worse. He was also sure he heard several screams.

Then, everything went numb and dark.

—

**Before you yell at me, yes I know Bakugo is waaaaaay OOC for this point in the story. Yes, Izuku is as well. But that serves to a larger purpose. The OOC-ness isn't the point of this story, but it is a vehicle to reach that point. And, for those that think Bakugo deserves some karma for his early behavior, it'll be a great great payoff.**


	2. It's not like that

**This is more fun to write than I thought... I'm getting a little excited even**** as I think about the upcoming chapters.**

**And, to be clear, this is not a Kacchako story. Nothing happens with that. You'll see why.**

**andohmygodcholesterol, LordXG3, Luffy15, Jokerface35561, HankFlamion18: ****Same, Kacchako is actual NTR and vile to the nth degree.**

**Whitetiger789: That's be too easy, gotta be at least a little convoluted**

**bigrig56: You're welcome**

**coduss: You're right, I dunno if I can actually give the guy everything he deserves.**

**SirLightNight: I'm sure this story _could_ be huge and fleshed out, but there's only one main point I'm heading towards.**

**Xerzo lotCN: I'm sorry, AP isn't coming back :(**

**kevincutra: Nope, no real upload schedule in mind.**

—

Ochako was lost and confused and panicked and very very worried, and she thought that was understandable considering everything.

Deku, one of her closest friends and, as she'd come to accept by then, her crush, had been acting strange almost all day. Of course, that alone worried her. Then in came Bakugo to flip everything around by asking her out.

_ASKING. HER. OUT._

—

_"So, you like hanging out with Deku a lot?__" Bakugo asked. "What's with that?"_

_"I dunno, we're friends," she shrugged. "Why?"_

_"Just friends?"_

_"W-What's that s'posed ta mean?!" she stammered, feeling heat come to her face. "W-We're just friends! Only friends!"_

_"Well if you aren't taken, then... How about you go on a date with me this weekend?"_

_"A... A d-date with you?!" she asked, completely dumfounded._

_Bakugo didn't seem like the type to think about dating anyone, especially during an important time like this when he should've been working on getting his provisional license._

_"Well, what do you say?"_

_"I-I mean..."_

_Ochako couldn't exactly think of a reason to say no. She didn't dislike him, and it's not like she was actually_ dating_ Deku, even if she did like him. Besides, if Deku heard about this and it got a reaction out of him... Maybe she could use this to try and see how he actually felt about her. Besides, just going on a date with him didn't lock her into a relationship or anything._

_"Well, if nothing else comes up then I'd be happy to!" she said with a smile._

—

So that was a major curve ball.

Then, after returning to lunch with Iida and Deku, the green-haired teen seemed not to care at all about the news. In fact, he was even more disconnected from their conversation than he was earlier. She wasn't sure how to feel about that. Was he more drawn away because of her and Bakugo? Was he just feeling bad in general? Did he care or not care about her?

The rest of the day in class, she kept glancing over to check on Deku. He never looked up from his notes during class, not once. And after class he was just as blank as before. Silent, near expressionless... almost robotic, and not in the Iida way. She tried to get his attention on the way back to the dorms, but he just ignored her completely. That kind of hurt her feelings actually. She thought it was just cold.

"I'll handle this," Bakugo volunteered as he walked up to him.

The blonde put a hand on his shoulder and whispered something in his ear. Deku actually replied. It was too quiet for Ochako to hear anything, but she saw it. Then Bakugo said something else. Then Deku...

He...

Ochako didn't want to think about it.

During the beginning of their time at U.A., Deku always had to break his bones when he used his Quirk. It was like that, except instead of a punch it was an explosion. There was a blast of air pressure that knocked everyone in the class onto the floor, and sent Bakugo flying 20 or so meters. The blonde's left forearm was broken and he received a light concussion.

As for Izuku, he broke more than his forearm. His entire right arm, a good portion of his torso, and half of his head was broken and bruised. His bones all on that side of his body were shattered in that instant, including part of his skull. It was as if he let out a 100% punch from every muscle.

Principle Nedzu asked around and took all of the students' statements about it afterwards as the two were rushed to Recovery Girl, then a couple of hours later sent a staff member to let them know that the two were expected to make full recoveries.

Now, Ochako was sitting on her bed in her dorm room, twiddling her thumbs. Because she didn't know what else to do, or what she_ should_ do, or how she should_ feel_. Deku wasn't the kind of person to violently lash out at other people, but he did. He _was_ acting weird all day after all. And the person he did it to was Bakugo, who she was supposed to go_ out_ with. Was she supposed to be mad at him? Worried about him? More worried about him, her close friend, or Bakugo, who she was planning to go on a date with? The weird part was that she didn't feel any of that. She just felt_ confused_.

She glanced up at the clock. 6:00 pm, about 3 hours after it happened. She looked back down, sighed, and ran her hands through her hair for about the 100th time. She felt like she should check up on them, at least. There was only one room in the nurse's office, so it wouldn't be much trouble.

She walked down to the common area and looked around at everyone present, before saying, "I'm gonna go check on Deku and Bakugo. Anyone wanna come?"

"I'll accompany you," Iida said first.

Mina, Tsuyu, Kirishima, Todoroki and Kaminari all also came along.

"I still can't wrap my head around it," Kirishima sighed as they walked.

"It is unlike Midoriya to lose control of himself like that," Iida agreed.

"But doesn't Bakugo kind of have a history of picking on Midoriya, kero?" Tsuyu mused.

"I mean, Bakugo is like that with everyone," Denki shrugged. "But I guess they do have some history."

"It still doesn't make any sense," Ochako sighed.

"Yeah, but I'm sure Midori didn't mean it," Mina said.

"How could he 'not mean it'?" Todoroki asked.

"How are you holding up about this Uraraka?" Iida asked.

"Hm? Me?" she tilted her head.

"Well, I know Midoriya is a very close friend to you, and earlier you accepted Bakugo's invitation to a date," he explained. "So, I'm just wondering what you're thinking about."

"Eh? You and _Bakugo_?" Mina asked. "But what about your crush on Midori?"

"MINA—!" Ochako screeched, horrified.

"Wait, she has a crush on Midoriya?!" Kirishima asked.

"But you said yes to Bakugo?!" Denki asked Ochako.

"I-I mean, i-it isn't like that!" she said quickly.

"Suuure," Mina said. "Y'know, Midori might've just been acting out of jealously now that I think about it."

"N-No, he doesn't feel that way about me," Ochako said, waving her hands. She looked at the others, "Right?"

"Well..." Kirishima scratched his neck.

"I mean..." Kaminari looked at Kirishima.

Ochako's heart stopped for a second.

"D-Does he..?" she asked again.

"Pshhhh," Kaminari debated with himself for a moment with his hands deep in his pockets. "... Yeah."

"And you said yes to Bakugo," Kirishima sighed.

"... Y-Yeah," Ochako nodded.

She put a hand on her chest to verify, yes, she was alive. And, alive as she was, she was experiencing a mixture of emotions. Joy that Deku liked her back, horror that she might have hurt him and ruined her chances with him, and an even worse horror that she might have been the cause of the incident.

Ochako arrived at the office with the others and was surprised to see two individuals other than the injured teens. Mirio Togata was there, and another teen who she didn't recognize. He was lanky and about Iida's height, had short brown hair, and wore the U.A. uniform.

"Oh, hey there guys," Togata nodded. "Here to visit these two?"

"U-Um, yeah," she nodded. "What're you doing here Togata?"

"Trying to figure out a motive, you could say," he explained. "Midoriya caught my eye when I first met him, and I've talked to him multiple more times. I've even offered to introduce him to the hero I'm interning with, Sir. He never struck me as the kind of guy that might do this... So, I'm trying to figure it out."

"Really? How would you do that?" Kirishima asked.

"This guy right here!" the third year student said, patting the shoulder of the other boy.

"I'm Dekai Reniji," he smiled and bowed slightly. "Pleasure to meet you."

—

**Dekai is OC do not steal.**

**I originally had him explain how he'd figure out the motive in this chapter, but decided it would be more fun to leave it up in the air for now.**

**All**** will be revealed in the next chapter!**


	3. Somebody that's useless

**Back with another chapter.**

**Reviews:**

**YDdraigGoch94: Sorry, but this is just a shits giggles bashing fic atm. It may evolve into something more, but probably not.**

**MyMad-Robotdocter: Villain Deku is an interesting thing I've seen plenty of iterations of, agreed.**

**bigrig56: Well, this story isn't exactly about revenge via beating the shit out of Bakugo. It's more about "what goes around comes around." Also I don't know about Izuku ending up with anyone other than Ochako, don't seem right lol.**

**Xerzo LotCN: It wasn't a punch, so the force didn't hit Bakugo directly like a punch. It was more of a "Deku blindly unleashed power" than "he lashed out at him."**

**I'm tired and bleh rn as I'm doing these notes. So I'll keep it brief.**

**Here's essentially**** the whole point of this story.**

—

Ochako looked at Reniji, wondering how he'd be able to figure out a "motive" for Izuku's actions. Well she assumed it was his Quirk, but she wondered what exactly it could be.

"H-How will you be able to find a motive?" she asked.

"My Quirk is called Mental Projection," Reniji said. "It lets me look into people's minds. I can play their thoughts audibly or project their memories like a hologram."

"Isn't that a violation of his privacy?" Iida asked before the words could leave Ochako's own mouth.

"Well, you see," Reniji laughed uncomfortably, "it's actually very useful because I'm training to be a psychologist."

"But it's not legal without consent, right? Kero?" Tsuyu tilted her head.

"AHAHA!" Togata laughed. "You first-years are pretty perceptive! Right, it's not exactly legal! But that's why we waited for Recovery Girl to go home for the day before we came in!"

"Huh?!" the first-years' jaws all dropped.

"B-But you can't just do that!" Ochako said. "You're a hero, right Togata? Doing that is..."

"I know what it seems like," he said, "but I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't need to. This is a huge risk to my career, after all. I already promised Sir that I'd introduce him to this kid, and I've already gotten emotionally invested in him. On top of that, it just doesn't make any sense. I want to be sure before I move forward with anything else regarding Midoriya."

"And he wouldn't call in a favor from me unless he_ really_ needs it," Reniji said.

"You're welcome to stick around, or not," he said. "But you'll regret it if you tell anyone about this."

"That a threat?" Kirishima asked.

"Yep," the third-year nodded.

The students were all silent for a moment. Ochako glanced down at Deku, whose body was covered mostly in bandages, then Bakugo who only had a couple of them.

'_Find out why he did it, huh?_' she mused. '_It... it's probably because of me... But... what if it isn't?_'

"I'll stay and watch," Todoroki said first, prompting all eyes to go to him.

"But Todoroki..." Iida said.

"I know, but I need to know why," he explained. "Midoriya is the reason I can use my left side... I'd be half of the hero I am today without him. And it doesn't make sense to me either. Midoriya's always-upbeat attitude, his resilience... He's an inspiration to me. I need to see why he did what he did."

"I feel the same," Kirishima said. "They're both my friends, and they're both so manly... I can't see Midoriya doing something like this."

"I'd like to know too, Kero," Tsuyu croaked.

"If I didn't stay now, my curiosity would kill me," Kaminari sighed.

"Same here," Mina nodded.

"I'd rather leave, myself," Iida said. "Uraraka?"

"... I... I gotta stay here," she decided.

"Alright, well... I'll respect all of your decisions," he said. "But, I'm going to take my leave now."

"And you won't mention this to anyone, right?" Togata repeated.

"No, I won't," Iida said. "Even if I don't agree with it, this isn't worth getting you in trouble. However, I expect you to be on your best behavior whenever else I see you!"

"Ahahaha! Sure thing!" he said with a thumbs up.

Then Iida left, and the rest of the students looked at Reniji. The brunette sighed and walked over to the side of the room where he grabbed a stool, then unceremoniously dragged it to Deku's bedside. He placed his hand gently upon his bandaged forehead and closed his eyes. Slowly, a blue glow began shining around them both.

"Holy shit... Ah, excuse my language," Reniji said to the first-years. "But this guy... has a lot of trauma. And it's all connected too..."

The blue glow suddenly expanded, and an image appeared. It was like a maze of interconnected wires that glowed an assortment of blue, white, and orange.

"**I'm Izuku Midoriya**," Deku's voice said. "**Ever since I was a toddler, I've wanted to be a hero like All Might**."

The wires in the image bent and twisted along with the words as Deku spoke, and when he stopped they spread out rapidly. They were then replaced by the image of an old man in a doctor's uniform.

"You should probably give it up kid," he said. "You're Quirkless."

There was a clatter, and Deku looked down to see his All Might figurine on the ground.

"Quirkless? But Midori has a Quirk." Mina pouted and crossed her arms.

"Shh, let's see what happens!" Kaminari said.

The wire-like strands reappeared to cover the image, then quickly dispersed again to show a new scene: Deku was watching the video of All Might's debut on a computer, but his vision was blurred.

"Izuku..." a feminine voice, presumably his mother's, said in the background.

"*_Sniff_, M-Mom," Deku stuttered. He turned to look at his mom and asked, "C-Can I be a hero l-like that too?"

"Izuku..." his mother cried. She ran across the room and embraced him, crying, "I'm sorry, Izuku! I'm so sorry!"

The wires engulfed the image once again, and Kirishima asked, "Are we sure these are Midoriya's memories?"

"Whose else would they be?" Reniji asked in an annoyed tone.

The wires shined and twisted as Deku's voice came through again, "**Back then, my best friend was Kacchan. He was always better than me at everything.**"

Another scene appeared, where a young Bakugo and two other kids stood above Deku in a playground.

"Hey guys, you want to know another way to read the kanji for 'Izuku'?" Bakugo asked them. "It's 'Deku', which means someone that's useless!"

"Wow, you can read kanji? You're so smart Katsuki!" one of the kids said.

"And 'useless' fits Izuku pretty well!" the other one said.

"H-Hey guys, stop," Deku asked.

"Shut up, _Deku_!" Bakugo said with a laugh.

"**Still**," Deku's voice said as the wires returned, "**I thought Kacchan was so cool. He could do so many things that I couldn't, and then he got such an amazing Quirk**."

"Hey guys," Deku's young voice said as another scene appeared, "stop bullying him!"

Deku looked back to see a kid on the ground curled up, then turned to face Bakugo and the two others again.

"What the hell are_ you_ gonna do about it, Quirkless Deku?" Bakugo laughed as he slammed an explosive fist into his palm.

"I-I'll stop you!" Deku cried, raising his shaking fists.

"Yeah right!" Bakugo laughed.

The kid on his right grew wings and the one on his left extended his fingers, then they all charged him and began beating him. They knocked him on the ground and continued as they laughed. There were explosions and feet to the face, and Ochako had to look away from it.

"Is that... really Bakugo?" Kirishima asked.

"He's... brutal," Tsuyu croaked.

The image faded and the wires resumed their twisting as Deku spoke, "**Kacchan was so cool. Everyone loved him and he was so good at everything, and smart too. But he stopped being good friends with me, since he was so strong and I'm not.**"

Meanwhile, several memories of Bakugo's teasing and bullying flashed by.

"**But I never stopped hoping that I could be a hero.**"

Bakugo's back was facing Deku from a doorway, and he looked back at him.

"You know Deku, there _is_ still a way that you could become a hero," the blonde grinned. "Hope that you'll be born with a Quirk in your next life and jump off the roof!"

Everyone in the infirmary shifted uncomfortably at the memory they were watching. Whatever they had thought of Bakugo, _this_ wasn't it.

"**I never lost sight of my dream no matter_ who_ said I couldn't do it.**"

The skinny All Might sighed, "I'm sorry to tell you kid, but you shouldn't have unrealistic dreams. If you really want to help people, join the police force. But being a hero without a Quirk is just... not doable."

"Wait, was All Might skinny way back then too?!" Kaminari asked.

"And how'd Midori find out?!" Mina exclaimed.

"The plot thickens!" Togata announced.

—

**Notes: So the rest of this story is about the classmates and the upperclassmen looking at Izuku's memories, then the fallout of it. That's it, the end.**

**There's probably a few more chapters, then maybe even a separate follow-up about life after this development.** **But for now, good day.**


	4. Dekai Reniji

**I'm back.**** The next thing I write will be another Telekinetic Hero chapter, so look forward to that in a month or two.**

**I'm not gonna go over reviews for this story because that's a lot of trouble and I'm just going this story because it's a relaxer for my brain.**

**And I'm not really worrying about ooc-ness because, again, I'm not putting much effort into this. I really just wanted the quickest way to get these fellas in this situation and that was the shit my brain came up with so I vomited it onto the page.**

**Enjoy!**

—

Dekai Reniji was a third-year student in the business course of U.A High School. Most of his classmates were training to be accountants and financial advisors for heroes, but not him. He mainly took the course to learn the ins and outs of running a successful business, but the business he actually wanted to run was a therapy office.

His Quirk had always been perfectly suited for it, and that led to him developing an interest in it. In Middle School he began independently studying psychology, and continued all the way through his tenure at U.A. He planned everything out for his business by now and it was just supposed to be a straight shot through to a comfortable life. But not everything works out like that, and that was something he already knew. Mostly, in his experience, because of Mirio Togata.

The hero course student was so loose and carefree, and a troublemaker no doubt. Even being in the same year as him always bugged Dekai, since he always put a "creative flair" on anything that really should've been simple. He didn't understand why everyone thought he was so great. But, he was as much a hero as everyone said and Dekai owed him. And he didn't like owing people, as it usually led to him doing favors he'd rather not do. Especially now.

—

"The plot thickens!" Togata announced.

"Plot?" Dekai asked, astounded. "You want to see_ more_?"

"Reniji, we have to know why Midoriya did what he did" the blonde said, "and you know that we have to look further into this in order to find that out."

"You saw! This guy knew about All Might's scrawny form over a year ago!" Dekai exclaimed. "I have a feeling that we will learn things that we are_ not_ supposed to learn if we continue! I don't want to get caught up in all of whatever this might be."

"But we gotta keep going!" one of the first-years, the redhead, spoke up. "This manly story... I gotta see how things play out!"

"Yeah!" the pink one and the blonde with the lightning bolt in his hair both agreed.

"Besides, that meeting could be a freak accident and nothing more, kero," the frog girl said.

"Reniji," Togata said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I'll take the responsibility of whatever happens from here on out, okay?"

Dekai didn't know how that was supposed to persuade him. Once you know something, you know. And if people don't want you to know it, then it doesn't really matter how you found out.

"Besides, this is the one favor," Togata added. "After this, I won't ask anything more of you."

"... I mean..." he sighed.

"Please," the brunette girl spoke up next. "Please let us find out... everything..!"

Was she crying? He was pretty sure she was. _Uuuugh._

"Fine," he grunted as he gave in. "Let's just get it over with then."

The reason he was playing the memories in this order was because his Quirk allowed him to see a string-like series of events that were all interconnected to any one event. So he had selected the memory of the incident and it uprooted the rest of these memories, and he began at the beginning. Now he grabbed it where they left off and resumed the session.

"**At that point, I was thinking that maybe Kacchan was right**," Midoriya's voice said. "**Maybe it was true, and I was better off just hoping for a Quirk in my next life. Maybe that was it... Maybe, but...**"

Another memory appeared, showing Bakugo in the grasp of a green ooze-based villain.

"**... Even if I was worthless, when I saw that Kacchan needed help my body moved on its own!**"

Midoriya vaulted the heros' safety barrier and ran past them to throw his backpack up at the villain. Then he began frantically trying to claw away at the goop.

"You moron, what the fuck are you doing here?!" Bakugo shouted as his mouth was freed.

"I don't know, my legs brought me here on their own! You looked like you needed help!" the greenette responded.

The slime monster swung its arm down at him, surely a lethal strike, but suddenly All Might appeared in its way to save Midoroya.

"**I'm sorry young man**," he chuckled dryly. "**I admonished you but then failed to stand by my own words..! Heroes are ALWAYS risking their lives! DETROIT SMAAAASH!**"

Then the memory blurred with multiple professional heroes scolding the Middle School student for being so rash, and it showed him walking along the street later, as the sun was going down.

"Oi Deku!" Bakugo's voice called, prompting him to turn and face him.

"Kacchan? What are you doing here..?"

"I just wanted to tell you that I owe you NOTHING for today! You didn't save me and you didn't do jack shit aside from giving All Might something else to worry about! So this changes nothing between us you shitty nerd!"

Then the blonde turned and shoved his hands in his pockets before stalking off aggressively.

'_He's probably right_,' Deku thought as he turned back around. '_I'm really just a useless Deku, huh..._'

"**YOUNG MAN I AM HERE!**" All Might announced as he appeared from nowhere and promptly reverted to his skinny form coughing up blood.

—

**You can become a hero.**

—

"**Those were the words I'd always wanted to hear,**" Midoriya's inner voice said. "**This day was easily one of the worst days of my life until, in this moment, All Might made it one of the best.**"

And then the scene played out alongside a spectacular amount of dropped jaws and gasps from the spectators. There would've been more noise, but everyone in the room was pretty speechless.

Finally, the blonde first-year exclaimed, "Midoriya has All Might's Quirk?!"

"T-Togata," Dekai stuttered as he pulled his shaking hand back from the green haired student. "I-I dunno about this!"

"It's too late now!" he exclaimed. "We already know, so we're have to know the rest now!"

"So he really _isn't_ All Might's son?" the teen with two-toned hair and the burn scar asked.

"Why is that even a question?!" multiple of the students asked.

"I... oh shit," Dekai sighed. He had gotten in too deep already.

"Keep going," Togata said.

"Otherwise we'll just keep speculating all day, kero," the frog croaked.

The brunette was wearing wide, anxious eyes that shouted "get on with it!" and he was obviously outvoted in this situation. So, he resumed the memories once more.

"**Over the next 10 months, I trained like hell to prepare my body for All Might's Quirk,**" Midoriya said. "**He said that it would blow me apart otherwise.** **Finally though, I had cleaned all of Dagobah beach—**"

"That was him?"

"**—and I received his Quirk on the day of the U.A. entrance exam.**"

A couple of the students gagged at the method of Quirk transfer. Then, the vision of the U.A. building appeared in the memories.

"Oi Deku," Bakugo called from behind him as Midoriya whirled around. "Stay the fuck outta my way."

"O-Oh hey K-K-Kacchan, good l-luck on the e-exam!"

But the blonde just walked past him, completely ignoring him. Midoriya sighed and took a moment, then looked back up at the institution. He took a step and tripped and fell straight towards the ground, only he didn't hit it. He was floating, and looked up to see the brunette girl who was currently sitting in the nurse's office.

—

**Notes: Aaaaaaand scene! You should essentially know where this is going now. Still, let me know your thoughts in the comments!**


	5. It just felt wrong on so many levels

**Hey it's back after a 5 month hiatus! I gave up on writing this a while ago because I realized how difficult an ending to this would be to write, but due to a few comments I'm updating it again. Hopefully I can continue!**

**This chapter will conclude the little romp through Deku's memories. I wonder how everyone will react?!**

—

Ochako recognized the scene as soon as it appeared through Reniji's Quirk. She wasn't surprised at how it played out at first, but there were several details that she had forgotten. She was in such a hurry that she hadn't been paying attention at the time, but she now realized that he had done nothing but sputter and fail to form words during that first interaction. She was surprised as Deku's subconscious explained that he was extremely nervous because he had never talked to such a nice, cute girl before.

Then, the memories quickly moved to the exam, where he had saved "the nice girl" who had caught his fall earlier.

"**I thought that I would have had to break my other arm to stop myself from dying on impact, but Uraraka saved me**," Deku recounted. "**She obviously was overusing her Quirk, judging by the fact that she threw up, but she still saved me. Then, when I got my acceptance letter**," he continued, and the video of Ochako played in the background, "**I learned that she offered to give me her points because she thought I deserved them.**"

This was a fact that nobody else in the room knew, and Ochako felt them glance at her as the scene played out. Deku was crying, and his inner voice talked about how touched he was that she would even think of doing something like that for him.

"**And then... I actually got to know Uraraka as the year got underway,**" he said as a few scenes played out from their class experiences together. Including the first time Deku saw her in a uniform and noted that she was 'too cute' while wearing it, causing current-day Ochako to blush. "**In every sense that I could think of, Uraraka was like an anti-Kacchan. Where Kacchan said I was useless, Uraraka thought I was cool. While he said I was a loser with no chance of being a hero, she actually seemed to think I was heroic. She told me how smart and strong I was, while Kacchan just said I was stupid weakling. An extra he had to move past. And she took the word 'Deku', which Kacchan had used for the past 10 years to torment me, and made it into a positive thing. It was a name I could be proud to bear as a hero.**

**"I****n elementary school and middle school, I never had any friends because I was the weird, Quirkless kid. And Kacchan... even before we got our Quirks, he was always a bully. Uraraka... deep down, I knew she was the first person I ever had a real friendship with, in my life.**"

Ochako was deeply flattered by Izuku's thoughts. She had no idea that her actions had that much of an influence over him, and she didn't know that she meant that much to him. She knew that he considered her a close friend, but with the rest of the context it felt infinitely more important than just that.

But, while she felt a warmth from the sentiment, she also started to piece together what might have caused the incident and it daunted her.

"**As the year went on, so much happened**," Deku continued. "**I made friends, got through life-and-death experiences, and I'd like to think my confidence was boosted a bit. But, the whole time, Kacchan still looked down on me. Even as I tried my best to make All Might's Quirk my own, and I did my best to prove myself to Kacchan, he just wouldn't acknowledge me.**"

The blue wires of Reniji's Quirk showed off several interactions between Katsuki and Deku as the year went on, and culminated in the fight at Site Gamma. Katsuki had broken down, and was blaming himself for the fall of All Might.

"**At that point, I didn't know what to think,**" Deku sighed. "**I felt guilty, because Kacchan was carrying this guilt even though it was really all my fault that All Might lost his power. But once the battle was over and All Might had talked to us, Kacchan was still bitter about it. He felt lied to, and he was upset because he thought All Might made the wrong choice, and I wasn't sure if it was my fault or not. I'm still not sure.**** Only a few days later, after both of us were off our house arrest, I learned that he was planning to invite Uraraka on a date. This is all still swirling around in my head so my thoughts might not be coherent, but... here I go.**

**"It just felt... wrong, on so many levels. Kacchan was never the kind of guy to get into romance. He was too focused and driven for that. Especially now that he was in U.A., he'd never let something like that distract him from becoming a hero. And, well, I felt like I knew Uraraka well enough to know that she probably wouldn't be interested in that either. Not only was she focused on giving her parents a good livelihood, but it felt weird that she'd say yes to him of all people. I never told her the extent of it, but I had told Uraraka that Kacchan had bullied me. And, with her being my friend, I thought that maybe she wouldn't want to be with him because of that. I know deep down that that's selfish, and she's her own person, but it was just an assumption I'd made at the time.**

**"But of course, she_ did_ say yes. It just felt wrong in every single way,"** he explained. **"And then, while we were walking to the dorms..."**

"Oi, Deku," Katsuki whispered, "did you hear about be and Uraraka? We're going on a date next week."

"Hey Kacchan, could you be quiet?" the greenette requested.

"Aw, what, you jealous or something? Mad because she likes me better than—?"

**"Kacchan's voice hurt my ears," **Deku said. **"I didn't want to listen. But I realized, on the subconscious level, what he was doing. Or, I think. I didn't think he really liked Uraraka, I started to think that he was just using her to get to me. That's it, it clicked. It made sense. Of course he didn't have any interest in dating, it was just another plan to get under my skin. But I couldn't process everything at once. I still felt conflicted as to whether I should feel guilt or anger towards Kacchan for how everything had happened between us. And as far as All Might went, Kacchan was convinced I'm a failure as a successor. Maybe he's right to some extent, there are plenty of better candidates than me.**

**"And, not that I'm consciously aware of it, I'm still a bit affected by Kacchan's past bullying. Some of my biggest regrets are not being able to stand up to him back then, and just letting him bully me and others. Seeing him use Uraraka like that just made me so, so upset.**

**"And, I guess it's kinda obvious, but I was also really jealous that she said yes to him. In the end, I couldn't decide between being angry, sad, or just bottling everything up. It was too much for me to process all at once and I just... passed out, I guess. That's all I remember."**

There was a silence for a good 30 seconds, before Reniji spoke up.

"This kid should've gone to a therapist years ago," he said. "Bottling up those feelings... He probably thought he was dealing with it, but there are very few people who can actually take being bullied for that long without some phsycological trauma."

Mirio let out a whistle and placed his hands on his hips. "On top of that, he had the weight of succeeding All Might on his shoulders. He felt like he failed not only himself, but his idol as well. This kid's a complete mess, huh!"

"Am I the only one who wants to wrap Midori in a giant hug and tell him he's got what it takes?" Mina asked.

"No, Kero," Tsuyu shook her head, at the same time as Kaminari and Kirishima also agreed. "He's been through a lot, mostly because of Bakugo."

"... Midoriya didn't even realize that he attacked Bakugo," Todoroki said. "It was like... a stress-induced spasm."

"I can't say that Midoriya's to blame, but I don't think I can hold this against Bakugo either," Kaminari sighed. "He has his own problems that might've led to this."

"How can you say that?" Mina asked, a bit taken aback. "This... completely changes my view of Bakugo! There's nothing I hate more than a relentless bully!"

"I can vouch for her on that," Kirishima said. "But even I've gotta admit... he seemed an awful lot like a villain from Midoriya's perspective."

"Ochako?" Tsuyu croaked as she looked at the brunette who had stood up. "What is it, kero?"

"I... This...!" she stammered out as tears rolled down her cheeks. She wanted to say that it was her fault, but she just couldn't. And maybe that was even worse.

Deku had it way worse than she had thought. Katsuki's bullying, his Quirklessness and the crushing of his dream, and the sudden pressure placed on his shoulders by All Might. And then she, the person he perhaps trusted most, went ahead and accepted the date offer from the bully himself. Of course she couldn't have known everything. In hindsight, she knew almost nothing. But now that she knew everything, she wished she could have taken it all back.

She didn't feel guilty about it, nor responsible, but she felt like she was just a part of this horrible, sad situation and couldn't do anything about it. And she wished that she could have gone back in time to just turn Katsuki down, or do something even before then. She wanted Izuku to wake up right that moment, and to pour her heart out to him and be fully, completely honest with him for the first time since developing her crush.

"Ochako, are you okay?" Mina asked.

"H-How could I b-be?" the gravity girl replied through sobs.

"Girl, it's not your fault," Mina cooed as she wrapped her arms around her friend.

"I-I know, but—!"

Tsuyu, Kaminari and Kirishima also joined the group trying to comfort her. Meanwhile, across the room Mirio was talking to Reniji and Todoroki.

"So, now the million dollar question!" Mirio smiled. "What do we do with this information?"

"What is there to do?" Todoroki asked.

"We could bring this to the attention of Nedzu, and have Bakugo expelled immediately," Reniji said. "Inciting suicide actually makes Bakugo ineligible for the hero course. But doing that would risk our attendance here as well, since the legality of this was... questionable at best."

"Or, perhaps we could simply show our support to Midoriya through our actions, or maybe privately let him know that we're in on the secret," Mirio shrugged. "But realistically, one of these students will have to take the fall for this, or both. If we don't intervene... Midoriya will likely be expelled for attacking a fellow student. However, bringing this knowledge to a teacher or the principal would get us expelled too."

"I-I won't let them e-expel Deku for this," Ochako spoke up. "I'll tell them w-what happened."

"Not so fast," Reniji furrowed his brow. "That would have to incriminate me as well, unless you have another mind reader you know that can take the fall."

"This is a difficult issue!" Mirio laughed. "But luckily for us, we have a few days to decide! Besides, it's gonna get late soon so I suggest that we all go back to the dorms. Sleep on this, at least for one night, before making any decisions."

With that, the crew departed for Heights Alliance. It was a long, mostly quiet walk back to the 1-A dormatories. Everyone was mostly keeping to their own thoughts, aside from the occasional sniffle from Ochako and comforting from one of her classmates. As soon as they arrived back, the brunette made a beeline for the elevator and went up to her room.

"What's wrong?" Momo asked.

"It's nothing," Mina said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry about it."

Iida quirked an eyebrow questioningly at Kirishima, who just shrugged with a sigh.

Ochako didn't eat dinner. She didn't come down at all after she went up for the night. Tsuyu and Mina tried to talk to her, but she made no attempt to answer them.

—

**As always, feedback and input are greatly appreciated and I'll see you guys in the next chapter!**


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